Jeremy Lin reportedly was close to being released before scoring binge

There are so many incredible aspects of Jeremy Lin’s rise to stardom, it’s hard to know where to begin. You could talk about him being overlooked by many colleges. You could talk about him going undrafted and hardly seeing minutes last season with the Warriors. You could talk about him being released by two NBA teams in December, and nearly being released again this past week.

Yup, ESPN NBA reporter Marc Stein says the Knicks were close to releasing Lin until he went on a scoring binge last Saturday and Monday.

Sources with knowledge of the Knicks’ thinking told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein that the Knicks had been giving strong consideration to waiving Lin before his breakout game last Saturday against New Jersey.

Sources told Stein that the Knicks, given Lin’s unguaranteed contract, were leaning toward releasing him before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline and had begun targeting replacement point guards to take Lin’s roster spot, with veteran guard Mike James from their affiliate in the D-League (Erie BayHawks) chief among them.

The Tuesday deadline is when players’ contracts become guaranteed for the rest of the season. If the Knicks were that close to releasing Lin, maybe we shouldn’t give Golden State and Houston too much grief over releasing him. Then again, at least the Knicks gave him a shot to see what he could do.

And just how good has Jeremy Lin been in his first week as an NBA starting point guard? He’s scored more points (89) than anyone through their first three starts since the NBA-ABA merger.